Joe Juliano

Inquirer Staff Writer

CHICAGO – We reported on Monday that ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” had tentatively scheduled to air a segment examining the spate of off-the-field incidents involving criminal charges against Penn State players this Sunday. It appears now the episode is definitely slated for the Sunday 9:30 a.m. show on ESPN and at noon on ESPNEWS. Here are a few interesting quotes from coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier that will be in the segment:

Paterno on the number of criminal charges against Penn State football players:

“Every time a kid steps out of line he gets a little bit more publicity. I’m not condoning any of these things, but I think we got to keep it in perspective.”

“I just think people got to understand that bringing in young kids, 18, 19, 20, you know, they’re not perfect. They’re not angels. They’re very aggressive kids or they wouldn’t be guys who can compete in front of 110,000 people.”

Spanier:

“They’re staggering numbers. They’re very high and they shouldn’t be that way.”

“It might often be the case that there is an initial overreaction as evidenced by the dismissal of so many charges, but never mind that, it’s still the case that many of those charges have stuck."